Posts Tagged ‘alfa romeo giulietta’

Barring a last minute hitch, expect the Alfa Romeo 4C in U.S. showrooms this year.

After an unexpectedly long delay, Fiat’s Alfa Romeo brand is finally giving the public a closer look at the little 4C sports car that will usher in its long-awaited return to the U.S. market.

The production version of the 4C, a mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive coupe, is making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show this week, and will go on sale in Europe, and then the States, by year’s end.

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A concept version of the super-light sports car was shown in Geneva in April 2011 and Alfa officials said then that it would be one of several models that they would use to bring the brand back to the American market after a roughly two-decade absence. But that revival — a cornerstone of the alliance formed between Fiat and Chrysler after the U.S. maker emerged from its 2009 bankruptcy – has proved far more difficult to achieve than originally anticipated.

A Jeep Liberty "mule" based on a modified Alfa Giulietta is caught during testing.

Chrysler is getting ready to bring out an all-new, radically changed Jeep Liberty that will debut within the next 18 months. Like the Dodge Dart, the new model will be based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, or more precisely on the modified CUSW platform derived from the Fiat subsidiary’s 5-door hatchback.

What we’ve captured here is a mule of the future Liberty prototype show a modified Giulietta hatchback sporting a completely new, covered, front end.

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By switching to the CUSW (or Compact U.S. Wide) platform the future Liberty will be inches wider and longer than its Italian progenitor and carry traditional Jeep styling features such as the more box-like body shape and vertical slotted grille design.

Evidence of the enlargement can be seen in the “stretch marks” seen on this view of a prototype (note the alterations in sheet metal at the roof, trunk and rear door).

Coming at you - Dodge redefines the American compact car with the help of its partner, Fiat.

With its unexpectedly strong first-quarter earnings it’s no wonder Chrysler officials have been crowing about the turnaround of a company that was bankrupt just three short years ago. Those profits have largely been driven by a surge in demand for models ranging from the midsize 200 sedan to the big Jeep Grand Cherokee. But there’s a gaping hole in the Chrysler corporate line-up that the maker must fill if it hopes to keep that momentum going.

To plug that gap the Dodge division is getting an all-new compact sedan for which the maker curiously decided to revive an old nameplate, the launch of the 2013 Dodge Dart brings back a once-formidable badge last used in 1976.

That means there are perhaps two generations of American motorists who have, at most, vague memories of that nameplate. As for older Baby Boomers, well, the original Dart was popular enough in its heyday but, like so many American models of the 1970s, it had serious issues by the time Dodge dropped it from the line-up. So, gaining traction for an all-new Dart will clearly be a challenge, especially with Dodge aiming at two distinctive audiences: young buyers starting up a family and older empty nesters.

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But spending a couple days with several late pre-production models convinced TheDetroitBureau.com that Dodge has nailed the needs of compact customers – enough to pose serious challenges to the segment’s traditional Japanese leaders. That’s especially true when you consider that Dodge will offer five different versions of the new Dart, with six powertrain combinations – including one bumping up to “41-plus” mpg – 14 color and trim packages, three different wheels and 100s of customizable options.

A name once familiar to Baby Boomers will be making its return in time for the new crop of Millennial motorists, the Dodge Dart staging its revival at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show.

A fixture of the ‘60s, the Dart was one of the more popular small cars in the domestic line-up but steadily lost traction as imports came to dominate the market for compacts. It was last produced in 1976. But the Dodge Dart nameplate will be revived for the 2013 model-year as the replacement for the largely unloved Dodge Caliber hatchback.

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The name may harken back to an era of peace, love and 30-cent gasoline but Dodge insists this is anything but a retro-mobile, describing it as “a thoroughly modern vehicle that’s fuel-efficient, beautifully designed and crafted.”

It’s also the first vehicle in the Chrysler line-up to get an injection of partner Fiat’s DNA, or more precisely, the automaker’s upscale brand Alfa Romeo. The new 2013 Dodge Dart will be based on a Fiat platform “adapted from the award-winning Alfa Romeo Giulietta,” explains an advance release.